Themes: Haunted By the Past, Self-Destructive Romance, Dangerous Attraction
Main Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Roman Bohnen, Van Heflin, Charles D. Brown, Lizabeth Scott, Ann Doran, Kirk Douglas, Judith Anderson
Release Year: 1946
Country: US
Run Time: 117 minutes
Plot
In The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, relationships formed in childhood lead to murder and obsessive love. The wealthy Martha Ivers (Barbara Stanwyck) is the prime mover of the small Pennsylvania town of Iverston. Martha lives in a huge mansion with her DA husband, Walter O'Neil (Kirk Douglas), an alcoholic weakling. No one knows just why Martha and Walter tolerate one another....but Sam Masterson (Van Heflin), an Iverstown boy who returns to town, may just have a clue. At least that's what Martha thinks when Sam asks Walter to intervene in the case of Toni Marachek (Lizabeth Scott), who has been unjustly imprisoned. It seems that, as a young boy, Sam was in the vicinity when Martha's rich aunt (Judith Anderson) met with her untimely demise. What does Sam know? And what dark, horrible secret binds Martha and Walter together? Directed by Lewis Milestone, and based on John Patrick's Oscar-nominated original story, Love Lies Bleeding, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers creates in Martha a unique and interesting, driven, obsessed, and spoiled character, but one not without sympathy. Barbara Stanwyck is outstanding as Martha, with her predatory smile and sharp, manicured nails. Kirk Douglas is surprisingly convincing as a lost, sad, weak man, who loves his wife, but is unable to gain her respect. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers eventually lapsed into public domain and became a ubiquitous presence on cable television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Something of a warm-up for the later The File on Thelma Jordan, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers mixes obsession, desire, delusion, ambition, and fear into a fascinating and enthralling tangle. Unusual for a movie of its period, it's fairly sophisticated in dealing with what is, at heart, a "sick" relationship between Martha Ivers (Barbara Stanwyck) and Walter O'Neil (Kirk Douglas), and demonstrating how easily a person (Sam Masterson [Van Heflin]) can get sucked into one. Fortunately for Masterson, he gets out in time, but it's a pretty narrow escape. Ivers is a remarkably tense film, although it's a tension that tends to linger beneath the surface; this is appropriate, as it reflects the turmoil and anxiety that lies under the calm surface of Ivers' and O'Neil's lives. That tension gives the film its life and strange vibrancy, and gives snap to even mundane scenes. There are some problems, notably the fact that the creators don't really seem to have a grasp on Masterson's motivation after the idea of blackmail enters the picture. Is he really interested in the money or is it a plot to get to the bottom of the Martha mystery? But the compelling, multi-layered performances of the stars (including Lizabeth Scott) more than make up for the few flaws in the script. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
On a rainy night in 1928 in a Pennsylvania factory town called Iverstown, Martha Ivers (Janis Wilson), a young girl yearning to escape from the guardianship of her wealthy, domineering aunt, is caught trying to run away with her friend, the street-smart, poor Sam Masterson (Darryl Hickman).[2] Martha is taken home. Later that night, Sam comes for her, but hides when her aunt hears Martha's beloved cat wandering on the staircase. When Mrs. Ivers attacks the pet with her cane, Martha intervenes, with fatal consequences. This is witnessed by Walter O'Neil (Mickey Kuhn), the son of Martha's tutor (Roman Bohnen). The greedy Mr. O'Neil suspects what happened, but presents Martha's version of events to the police, that a strange man was responsible. However, he uses his power over Martha to move into the mansion and take control of her life. Years later, he blackmails her into marrying his son by having her testify against an innocent man, resulting in his execution.
Eighteen years later, Walter (now played by Kirk Douglas) is the district attorney, while Martha (Barbara Stanwyck) used her inheritance from her aunt to built a large business empire. However, their marriage is one-sided; he loves her, but the reverse isn't true. Sam (Van Heflin), now a drifter and gambler, stops in the small town by chance when he crashes his car and has to wait for it to be repaired.
At his old home, now a boarding house, he meets Antonia "Toni" Marachek (Lizabeth Scott), who has just been released from jail. She is later picked up for violating her probation by not returning to her hometown. Sam goes to see Walter, to see if he can use his influence to get her released.
Walter worries that he has returned with blackmail in mind. When he observes his wife's joyful reaction to the news, he has an additional motive for running Sam out of town. He forces Toni to set Sam up. Sam is beaten and driven out of town, but he is too tough to intimidate. When all else fails, Walter makes a half-hearted attempt to kill Sam himself, but is easily disarmed. Martha then inadvertently blurts out the couple's fears, but they prove to be groundless: Sam never witnessed the death. Martha breaks down and laments that he left without her all those years ago, taking with him her only chance for love and freedom.
Sam is torn between his old love and his new. Although he eventually forgives Toni for betraying him, he and Martha spend an idyllic day together, rekindling his feelings for her.
Walter arranges to meet Sam to finally settle matters. Before Sam arrives, Walter gets drunk and Martha finds out about the meeting. When she urges Sam to kill her husband, Sam's love for her is extinguished. He leaves the guilt-ridden couple to contemplate the wreckage of their lives. Before he goes, he gives Walter back his gun and turns his back on him, but Walter does nothing. Martha picks up the gun, but she cannot fire either.
After Sam leaves, Walter embraces Martha, then points his gun at her midriff. Oddly relieved, she puts her hand over his hand on the trigger and presses. As she is dying, she defiantly states her name is not Martha Ivers, but Martha Smith. Outside, Sam hears the shot, then soon after, a second. Sam starts toward the house, then realizes it is too late and departs. He leaves town with Toni.
This film marked Kirk Douglas' screen debut. Producer Hal B. Wallis was on his way to New York to look for new talent when Lauren Bacall suggested he look up her old drama school classmate, Issur Demsky, AKA Kirk Douglas.
Future film director and producer Blake Edwards has an uncredited bit part as a sailor who hitches a ride with Sam.
